Originally scheduled for theatrical release in the United States on October 1, 2021, the film’s release was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Sony Pictures sold distribution rights to Amazon Studios for $100 million. The film was released on Amazon Prime Video on January 14, 2022, and received mixed reviews from critics.
Plot
During Hotel Transylvania’s 125th anniversary party, Dracula plans to retire and leave the hotel to his daughter Mavis and her husband Johnny. After overhearing the news, Johnny enthusiastically shares his renovation plans, prompting Drac to lie about a “monster real-estate law” that prohibits humans from owning the hotel. Disheartened, Johnny accepts his exclusion.
Van Helsing offers to help by using a special ray that transforms humans into monsters and vice versa. Johnny becomes a dragon-like monster, but when Drac tries to reverse the transformation, he accidentally turns himself human and breaks the ray’s crystal. Van Helsing instructs them to retrieve a replacement crystal from the Cave of the Reflexión in South America to undo the effects.
Meanwhile, Drac's friends Frank, Wayne, Griffin, and Murray are transformed into humans after exposure to the ray. Mavis and Drac's wife Ericka confront Van Helsing, who reveals the ray’s effects of turning humans into monsters are unstable and irreversible if not cured in time. They join the others in traveling to South America aboard Ericka's airship.
On their journey, Drac and Johnny grow closer, but tensions rise when Drac confesses he fabricated the real-estate law. Hurt and angry, Johnny mutates further and flees. Mavis finds him and leads him to the cave, but the crystal initially fails to reverse the transformation because Johnny is too angry and unstable by this point. Drac allows Johnny to capture him and expresses his acceptance of Johnny as family. This calms Johnny down enough for him to regain control, and Mavis successfully restores him.
Everyone is returned to normal, but the hotel is destroyed by Van Helsing’s transformed pet guinea pig, Gigi. After reversing Gigi's transformation, Drac decides to pass on the keys to the hotel to Mavis and Johnny, encouraging them to rebuild it as they like. One year later, Hotel Transylvania is rebuilt, looking exactly the same... on the outside, whereas the inside has been modernized.
Andy Samberg as Jonathan "Johnny" Loughran, Mavis's husband, Dracula's son-in-law, Ericka's stepson-in-law and Dennis' father[5]
Selena Gomez as Mavis Dracula, Johnny's wife, Dracula's daughter, Ericka's stepdaughter and Dennis' mother[5]
Victoria Gomez voices a young Mavis Dracula, as well as Wilma, a werewolf who is the daughter of Wayne and Wanda
Kathryn Hahn as Ericka Van Helsing, Dracula's wife and the great-granddaughter of Abraham Van Helsing[5]
Jim Gaffigan as Professor Abraham Van Helsing, a former monster hunter, Dracula's great-grandfather-in-law and ex-nemesis and Ericka's great-grandfather who invented the "Monsterfication Ray"[5]
Brian Hull as Count "Drac" Dracula, the founder of Hotel Transylvania and Mavis' father, Johnny's father-in-law, Dennis' maternal grandfather and Ericka's husband. In the previous films, he was voiced by Adam Sandler,[5][6] who was unavailable to return for the fourth installment due to scheduling conflicts.[7]
Brad Abrell as Frankenstein, Eunice's husband. He was originally voiced by Kevin James in the first three films[8]
Asher Blinkoff as Dennis, the dhampir son of Johnny and Mavis, Vlad's great-grandson, Ericka's step-grandson and Dracula's grandson[5]
Zoe Berri as Winnie, a werewolf who is the daughter of Wayne and Wanda and Dennis' best friend. She was originally voiced by Sadie Sandler in the first three films
Asher Bishop as Wesley, a werewolf who is the son of Wayne and Wanda
In April 2021, the film's title was revealed as Hotel Transylvania: Transformania, and it was confirmed to be the final entry in the franchise.[16][17] That same month, Sony announced that Adam Sandler would not reprise his role as Dracula.[6] The role was taken over by Brian Hull, who had voiced the character in the short film Monster Pets.[18]Kathryn Hahn, Steve Buscemi, David Spade, and Keegan-Michael Key returned to voice their characters, and in May 2021, Brad Abrell was announced as the new voice of Frankenstein, replacing Kevin James.[5][8] Lynn Hobson served as the film’s editor.[19]
Soundtrack
Mark Mothersbaugh returned to compose the score for the film, continuing his work from the previous three installments.[20] The official soundtrack was released by Sony Classical on January 14, 2022.[21] An original song featured in the end credits, “Love Is Not Hard to Find,” was written by Morien van der Tang, Faried Arween Jhauw, Glen Faria, and Jheynner Argot, and performed by Yendry. It was also released on January 14, 2022.[22]
Release
Hotel Transylvania: Transformania was released by Amazon Studios on Prime Video on January 14, 2022.[23] In February 2019, Sony Pictures Releasing had originally scheduled the film for a theatrical release on December 22, 2021.[24] The release date was later moved to August 6, 2021, then advanced again to July 23, 2021, and subsequently delayed to October 1, 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[25][16][26]
In August 2021, Sony Pictures cancelled the film’s planned theatrical release and entered discussions to sell the distribution rights to a streaming platform, citing rising cases of the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant in the United States.[27][28] On August 16, 2021, it was reported that Amazon Studios was negotiating to acquire global streaming rights (excluding China) for $100 million. Under the agreement, Amazon would release the film exclusively on Prime Video, while Sony retained home entertainment and linear television rights.[29][30] On October 6, 2021, Amazon confirmed the release date as January 14, 2022, coinciding with the tenth anniversary of the original Hotel Transylvania film.[23]
Although primarily released via streaming, the film had a limited theatrical release on February 25, 2022.[31] It later opened in Chinese theaters on April 3, 2022.[32]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, Hotel Transylvania: Transformania holds an approval rating of 47% based on 77 reviews, with an average rating of 5.1/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "Much like the trio of films it follows, Hotel Transylvania: Transformania is middling family viewing — relatively painless, but overall rather uninspired."[34]Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 46 out of 100 based on 15 critics, indicating “mixed or average reviews.”[35]
Meagan Navarro of Bloody Disgusting rated the film 2.5 out of 5 stars, noting that while it offers lighthearted entertainment, it "never gets as complex as its moral center suggests, therefore never really rising above a wholesome, exuberant amusement ride."[36] Tomris Laffly of Variety offered a more critical take, writing that the film is "yet another wearisome tale that inelegantly depicts themes like acceptance, understanding, and diversity within a saga that has always been rather clumsy with its messaging around such weighty topics."[37] In a more favorable review, John DeFore of The Hollywood Reporter acknowledged the film's weaknesses in writing but praised its animation and tone, stating, "Transformania remains sufficiently goofy-sweet to please its target demo; those who find the humor toothless should at least appreciate the distinctive animation, which can be as energetically wacky as classic Looney Tunes."[38]
Accolades
The film was nominated in two categories for "Outstanding Special Class Animated Program" and "Outstanding Sound Mixing and Sound Editing for an Animated Program" at the 1st Children's and Family Emmy Awards.[39] At the 2023 Kids' Choice Awards, Selena Gomez won the award for "Favorite Voice from an Animated Movie (Female)".[40]
Future
Television series
Although Hotel Transylvania: Transformania was intended as the final installment in the franchise, a spin-off television series titled Motel Transylvania was announced in June 2024.[41][42] The series, set to premiere on Netflix in 2025, will follow Dracula and Mavis as they open and operate a motel.[43][44]
Possible sequel
In September 2024, Genndy Tartakovsky was asked in an interview with Collider about the possibility of a fifth Hotel Transylvania film. While attending the SCAD AnimationFest, where he was being honored with an Award of Excellence, Tartakovsky stated that Sony might consider continuing the series if there is sufficient audience demand. He acknowledged the strong performance of Transformania during its release on Amazon and indicated that further developments would depend on future interest.[45]
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